criticalrant.com Alexandra Bonifield

Nobody got tossed through any windows. The crockery remains intact. No hit men have been surreptitiously slipped piles of unmarked bills and notes containing home addresses, to my knowledge. The DFW Theatre Critics Forum met for a few intense hours and came up with a list. I’m mostly pleased.

Bryant Martin (Curly) and Kyle Cotten (Jud) in Lyric Stage’s “Oklahoma”, directed by Cheryl Denson

As voted on:

Direction: Bruce R. Coleman, Superior Donuts (Theatre 3); Cheryl Denson,  Oklahoma (Lyric Stage); Tre Garrett, Topdog/Underdog (Jubilee Theatre); Patrick Kelly, The Birthday Party (Undermain Theatre); Rene Moreno, The Night of the Iguana (Contemporary Theatre of Dallas), August: Osage County (WaterTower Theatre) and Coriolanus (Shakespeare Dallas); Jeffrey Schmidt, The Farnsworth Invention (Theatre 3); Michael Serrecchia, Avenue Q (Theatre 3) and The Producers (Uptown Players).

New Play or Musical: Diamond Dick: The Tulsa Race Riots of 1921 by Erik Ehn (Project X: Theatre); International Falls by Thomas Ward (Haven Productions at WTT’s Out of the Loop Fringe Festival); Mean by Matthew Posey (Ochre House); Ruth by Vicki Caroline Cheatwood (Kitchen Dog Theater).

“The Merchant of Venice” (Trinity Shakespeare Festival); l to r– Richard Haratine, R.Brant Alford, Chuck Huber

Actor: B.J. Cleveland, The Producers; Kyle Cotton, Oklahoma; Chuck Huber, The Real Thing (Stage West), and The Merchant of Venice (Trinity Shakespeare Festival)*; Alex Organ, Coriolanus and The Farnsworth Invention; Chris Piper, Superior Donuts and A Free Man of Color (African American Repertory Theater); Van Quattro, Superior Donuts; Terry Vandivort, The Night of the Iguana; Ashley Wood, The Night of the Iguana.

Actress: Emily Scott Banks, A Most Dangerous Woman (Echo Theatre); Erica Harte, Oklahoma and Spring Awakening (WaterTower Theatre); Jenny Ledel, Twelfth Night (Shakespeare Dallas) and Turn of the Screw (Kitchen Dog Theater); Ebony Marshall-Oliver, Pretty Fire (Jubilee Theatre);

Barrett Nash in “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” at FIT

Barrett Nash, My Name is Rachel Corrie (Rite of Passage at the Festival of Independent Theatres); Sally Nystuen Vahle, God of Carnage (Dallas Theater Center); Lulu Ward, The New  Century (Uptown Players) and Counting the Ways (WingSpan Theatre Co.); Sherry Jo Ward, August: Osage County and International Falls.

Ensemble Cast: August:Osage County; Oklahoma; Avenue Q; The Farnsworth Invention; The Birthday Party.

Creative Contribution: Diamond Dick, for the creative team; Avenue Q, for Michael Robinson and the Dallas Puppet Theater’s puppet design and construction; Mean, for Justin Locklear’s music; Oklahoma, for Ann Nieman’s choreography; Superior Donuts, for David Walsh’s set design; The Tempest (Dallas Theater Center), Beowulf Borritt set design.

Touring Production: American Idiot (Lexus Broadway Series); Bring It On (Dallas Summer Musicals); West Side Story (Dallas Summer Musicals); Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Performing Arts Fort Worth).

Special Award: To Nouveau 47 Theatre, for their commitment to the mission of developing and presenting new and original works.

Emerging Artist Award: Van Quattro.

Van Quattro and Christopher Piper in “Superior Donuts” at Theatre Too

There was a spate of after meeting e-mails  about Chuck Huber’s award. Several of us recall the discussion of Chuck’s fine performance as Bassanio in “Merchant” and the agreement to include his performance in this listing. It may not appear on some critics’ postings.

Critics participating: Arnold Wayne Jones, Dallas Voice; Elaine Liner, Dallas Observer; Mark Lowry, Perry Stewart and Martha Heimberg, TheaterJones; Lawson Taitte, Dallas Morning News; M. Lance Lusk, Lindsey Wilson and Liz Jonhstone, FrontRow/D Magazine; Alexandra Bonifield, Criticalrant; and Punch Shaw, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.